Meditation Monday: Caity on Battling Grief

As some of you may know, my boyfriend just recently moved out to Seattle. Over the past week, I’ve had several individuals come up to me and ask the somewhat rhetorical question, “Are you sad?” I am touched that so many people have taken an interest in my well being and have felt loved as close friends have tried to comfort me. Still, unfortunately, the answer is yes. I am quite sad.

But that’s not really a problem. I’m allowed to feel this way for the time being. But I don’t particularly want to spend my last semester in school wallowing in self pity, so I thought I should look into how the Bible says to deal with grief. (I know, the topic of grief is not exactly a cheery one for a Monday Meditation. But this is something on my heart, and I know every person suffers through grief at some point in their life, whether it be losing a loved one to death or in my case, Microsoft.)

What I found were three main ways to positively deal with grief. The first, most obviously, would be through prayer. 1 Peter 5:7 says “Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” coupled with Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” This week, I’ve been focusing on not only giving my troubles to God, but truly believing he will comfort me. And it has been helping.

Psalms 30:11-12 say “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!” Ok, so I’ll admit it; I was a little angry at God for my situation.  I didn’t think it was fair that I met Ryan so close to his graduation, and I especially didn’t like the fact that his place of employment had to be three time zones away. Part of me felt like God was just putting me through emotional turmoil for little to no reason. But you know, it’s really hard to be angry at someone when you’re singing praises to Him. Worshipping God and thanking Him for all the blessings He has given me has helped change my attitude quite a bit.

But the third thing I’ve found is the one that has helped me the most in the past. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” While I could be spending my time trying to focus on myself and my sorrow, I should instead find someone else who is in pain. God can use me to comfort others, and in doing so, I too will be comforted. This semester, I hope to focus less on what God can do for me, and instead on what I can do for others. I challenge you to do the same.

Friendly Friday!

Ladies! Welcome back to Friendly Friday :)
This week we are featuring our very own: ALLYSON GILLIS!

Name: Mary ALLYSON Gillis. If you can’t tell by the capitalization I go by Allyson but my parents named me Mary…still bitter after 22 and a half years.

Major: English: Literature, Language, and Culture Pre-Education track. The idea is to go to grad school for Elementary Education (eventually), but lately I’m wondering if I want to pursue something more along the lines of Linguistics.

Favorite childhood snack? Dunkaroos? not sure if they’re my favorite because I am one of the most indecisive people you will ever meet, especially when it comes to food, but definitely loved them and got some for Christmas thanks to my mommy and the power of Amazon :)

Favorite thing about being a student at VT: Lane Stadium and Cassell Coliseum jk. Such a tough question to answer though. I know it’s cheesy, but probably just being a HOKIE. We have such a strong sense of community, focused on sports but involving so much more than that. I have also met some incredible people here and made some fantastic friendships through the BCM. I don’t want to even think about leaving it all behind in a few months.

If you could do anything without the possibility of failure and money wasn't a restraint: what would you do?
For fun: Travel around the world and even just this country-I haven’t been west of the East Coast. And I want to see the world and also live by a beach somewhere.
Professionally: Somehow be able to teach little kids during the year and spend my summers traveling around the world as a linguist documenting endangered languages and preserving the culture of the speakers.

What is your favorite thing to do to rest and/or relax? Cuddle on the couch with a nice warm blanket and watch SPORTS, tv, or a movie-it’s even better when I’m at home and I can add my puppy into the cuddling mix.

Are you reading any books right now? Several. As an English major when am I not? The main novel right now is The Help for a class (already seen the movie). I have Beth Moore’s So Long Insecurity that I’ve recently bought and not yet started…hoping to change that soon.

Favorite place to eat lunch? Too indecisive for these "favorite" questions, but Cabo Fish Taco is one of my favorite places in Blacksburg.

How has God encouraged you lately? God has really encouraged me a lot lately, especially through going to Passion, which was AMAZING!!! I’m recently single and God has put a peace in my heart about being single that I’ve never before experienced. Rather than dwelling on “loneliness” of not having a boy around me, I am taking this opportunity to improve my relationship with Him because that is above everything else. He has also surrounded me with some amazing people that have encouraged me, and for the first time I feel like I’m finally able to encourage others a bit too.

6:33 Recap

Hey Ladies. Every Wednesday of this semester we'll be spotlighting the message from 6:33 that week. Our very own Caity Edwards is kicking us off with a recap of last night's message from 1 Thessalonians 2, What is the Focus of your Heart? In case you missed it, you can download the sermon here.
As humans, we seem to have an approval addiction. It can go without saying that we want people to like us. But as Christians, we can’t always have that. Our faith—what we live for—does not always go hand in hand with approval. As soon as Darrell mentioned this last night, I instantly related. You see, I really like to be liked. My friends occasionally threaten to bake me an “insecurity cake” that has the message “Don’t worry, Caity, no one is judging you” on it.

The Thessalonians were discouraged because Paul left on a somewhat low note. The officials had tried to arrest him, but couldn’t find him and ended up arresting his host, Jason. They eventually freed Jason, but Paul was forced to leave town. It just felt a little like a failure to the early church. But in verses 1 and 2, Paul encourages them to 1) not think of it as a failure and 2) remember what happened in Philippi. Because of the big commotion that occurred with the nature of Paul’s departure, word was spread about the church. And Paul’s experience in Philippi was way worse in comparison, so they shouldn’t be distraught. (You should check out that story if you are unfamiliar with it. Acts 16:8-40)

In verse 3 Paul reminds them that they did not come to the city with “impure motives” or “trying to trick” the citizens. It’s hard to think that Paul, author of thirteen books of the Bible, could have possibly been suspected of having impure motives. As followers of Christ, we should be viewed similarly as he was, but how often do we let impure motives slip in? How often do we try and make ourselves look better than we actually are? How many times have we slightly modified the truth or changed a subject ever so slightly to bring up something attractive about ourselves? I know I am definitely guilty of this.

Verse 4 talks about Paul’s actions as being approved by God and how they were not trying to please man, but God—a goal for which we all strive. At this point, Darrell mentioned how many times Proverbs mentions the word “heart.” If you have time, check it out. If you write in your Bible, maybe underline all the times it appears. (Darrell even suggested drawing little hearts around the word.) A good way to avoid the approval addiction is to guard one’s heart. The only way to overcome the fear of rejection is to focus on God’s acceptance of us as we are.

Verse 5 mentions flattery and a mask to cover up greed. The difference between flattery and encouragement is that the latter is used to lift up other believers in Christ. Flattery is used to inflate a person and serve the speaker’s purpose. Darrell brought up an interesting suggestion during this part which I intend to try out now when I study the gospel. Today, we are so accustomed to the Pharisees being the bad guys. Whenever we read a story with them, we instantly scoff at what they say. But during Jesus’s time, they were the religious leaders—the ones others looked to for guidance on how to serve God. As Christians today, the world sees us similarly, and how often do we screw up? So when you read a story involving the Pharisees, read Jesus’s words to them as if he were speaking to you. Darrell then read Matthew 23:25-28, where Christ reveals the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He compares them to beautiful tombs filled with death and a clean mug with a filthy inside. They focus so much on looking holy on the outside while their insides—their souls—are unclean. We are challenged to not fall into this trap. We should not be focusing on the outside, (appearance or our actions that others see and thus judge us on) but the inside (where we are with Christ.)

Finally Darrell talked about verse 8, the memory verse for this week. “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our loves as well, because you had become dear to us.” To how many people can you truly say that? Is it a small list? I pray that throughout this semester, as you and others grow in your relationships with Christ together, that that list will become longer.

Meditation Monday: How do you find refuge in God?

Happy Monday, everyone! You're already one week into the semester! We're getting some ladies lined up to contribute to Meditation Monday for the rest of the semester but I wanted to kick it off with my own contribution.

Some of you know I lived in Spain for a year, but I often don't get a chance to share about my last month, which I spent walking across Spain on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage (if you've heard about the new movie The Way, this is the same thing). My best friend and I walked from the border of France and Spain across to the western coast of Spain, above Portugal.

(Yes, that's me with my backpack bundled up, walking in the rain in Spain - which falls mainly in the...all over, really)

Almost every day started off with drizzly rain and some days we walked for 8 or more hours in rain. We'd stop somewhere in the evening and find a "pilgrim" hostel to stay in. Sometimes those were full and we had to walk to the next town! (Sound familiar? I gained new empathy for Mary and Joseph.)

This morning I read Psalm 18, and verse 30 says,

"This God - his way is perfect;

the word of the Lord proves true;

he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him."

On the Camino, I learned what it meant to need refuge and also enjoy the pleasures of refuge - refuge from the rain, the cold, the elements, the exhaustion of walking for several hours 30 days in a row, the blisters, etc. I will probably never get a chance to go back on that pilgrimage (although I'd love to!) but I still need refuge everyday.

How do you take refuge in God? I've thought of a couple things we can do:

• cling the promises of God - his promise to never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), to bring to completion his work in us (Philippians 1:6), etc.
• talk to him about our burdens - cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7)
• fight the urge to find refuge in other things - success, wealth, relationships, marital status, etc. (Psalm 62:10 and 146:3)
• invite other people in to the refuge - by sharing the Good News that we can find refuge from our sin and burdens in Christ alone (Matthew 11:30).

Please comment below with how you find refuge in God. Until next week!

Welcome back!

I've missed seeing you all around BCM. I hope you're all ready for the semester to start tomorrow!

What did you meditate on during winter break? Share special verses or your thoughts by commenting below.